Former Creek student, Sheldon Freeman, is now a Teen Service Librarian at Helen Hall Library. Freeman has been working at Helen Hall since she was a senior at Creek. She started off with a part-time job as a page, someone who shelves materials. She originally planned to be a magazine editor, but changed her entire career path when she discovered her love and devotion to helping the community.

“I originally wanted to be a magazine editor! I was the Assistant Copy Editor and Copy Editor of the Den during my junior and senior year, respectively. I loved editing so much that I wanted to do that for my career. I only started working at Helen Hall Library because I needed a part-time job during my senior year. Who knew that one job could make such an impact?” Freeman said.

Freeman said that being the yearbook’s former Copy Editor taught her management skills that helps her in her job every day. She also said that Creek’s former yearbook advisor, Mrs. O’Neil, guided her on how to oversee others. Yearbook helped Freeman with her creativity skills like coming up with catchy headlines for the library’s flyers and social media posts to catch teens’ attention.

She has credited some of her teachers and experiences from Creek for helping her become a librarian. One of Freeman’s favorite parts about Creek were the events and activities. All of her fun experiences in high school inspired her when she is planning events for connect to teens at the library.

“Sheldon amazed me with her creativity and attention to detail, a key skill in being a librarian. I only expected her to be successful in any career she became passionate about. I admire her for changing her career path to become a librarian in her hometown, that’s heartwarming!  Aside from life-long cooking skills, I believe I encouraged her to be who she wants to be and not worry about what other people think or say,” Mrs. Backe, Freeman’s former Food-Science teacher, said.

During high school, Freeman was also a manager for the volleyball team,which taught her responsibility. For example, Coach Simonds, Creek’s volleyball coach, had Freeman input and manage track statistics. The skills of being a manager helps her with tracking the library’s statistics of attendance, volunteer hours, material usage and more.

“Sheldon was a great student. She was a smart kid and a great asset to our volleyball program. She helped us with taking statistics during the games and a lot of other things. She was always very positive and helped out any way she could.  I hope I helped teach Sheldon the value of a strong work ethic, discipline and being a part of a team,” Coach Simonds said.

When Freeman changed her career path, she went to college for a master’s degree in Library Sciences. She says that librarians do so much more than help you find a book and send you on your way. According to Freeman, librarians help “build people skills, create community connections between people and help them overall throughout life from pre-school to 100 years old.” She became so passionate about being librarian because she wanted to give other people the same experience she had at Helen Hall when she was a kid.

“There are a number of reasons why I chose to be a librarian. I was always naturally interested in knowledge, organization and event planning. I also loved visiting Helen Hall Library while growing up, and the librarians always inspired me. However, I never considered being a librarian until I started working here as a page,” Freeman said.

Freeman recalled that she would have never imagined being a librarian, and she does not know why she did not consider it in the past. Freeman grew up in the League City area as has actively been going to Helen Hall since she was two years old. Every year, Freeman would participate in the library’s summer reading program and she still has all the certificates she has earned. She said that since she was little she would play library with her brother and even charge him late fees.

“I specifically wanted to be a Teen Services Librarian because I like working with teens and the age group is so different from any other. Teens want to chill out and express themselves, and I really enjoy giving them different outlets so they can do that. My favorite part of being a Teen Services Librarian is designing and running teen programs. They’re tons of fun and knowing that I made a difference in a teen’s day makes it all worthwhile,” Freeman said.

Some events that Freeman planned for teens at the library on Monday nights are Game On, where sixth to twelfth graders can play games like Jenga, Apples to Apples, the Nintendo Switchand Snark Tank, where teens can write snarky reviews on movies. On Fridays, there is Teen Late Night when teens play Sardines in the library and on Saturdays there is Star Wars Read Day. Freeman has events planned for teens of all ages for every night of the week.

Some books that Freeman would recommend is the whole Harry Potterseries by J.K. Rowling and Eleanor and Parkby Rainbow Rowell. Freeman hopes that as a librarian, that she can continue to impact the community the same way Helen Hall impacted her.